A man who had been living a bohemian lifestyle in West Kerry was caught with over €5,000 worth of cannabis in a car park in the middle of the day.
32-year-old Fionán Collins, of Mullenaglemig, Dingle, is due to be sentenced at Tralee Circuit Court on the charge of possession of the drug for sale or supply.
His barrister Katie O’Connell said her client was “as green as he looked”, when he was approached in a car park by a garda sergeant in September 2022.
Mr Collins was in the Lidl car park in Dingle at around 1:30pm on 24th September 2022 with another person, when a garda sergeant began observing his movements.
When the garda sergeant approached and searched him, they found a plastic package with 241 grams of cannabis in his backpack; this has a value of €5,600.
He made admissions at the scene that he owned the cannabis, and was arrested.
His defending barrister, Katie O’Connell, said Mr Collins was living a bohemian lifestyle at the time, and was in a relationship in which there was a culture of smoking cannabis.
She said he would supply cannabis to his friends, as well as smoking an awful lot of cannabis himself at the time.
Ms O’Connell said her client is no longer in that relationship, and is both a full-time carer for his mother as well as working in hospitality.
Ms O’Connell said he has moved on and is in a much more stable position now, and this incident was a very good wake-up call for him.
She handed in work references, which she said speak volumes about him.
Judge Alec Gabbett, formerly a chair of Mental Health Tribunals at the Mental Health Commission, said Mr Collins is lucky that his consumption of cannabis does not seem to have affected his mental health.
He said he is better off staying off cannabis so he doesn’t lose his licence, warning someone may still be found with cannabis in their system 12 days after consumption with new roadside tests.
Judge Gabbett adjourned the matter to 12th June consider his judgment.
